Project Update

Been a little lax in my blogging world, but with a newly minted two year old, a 37 week pregnant baby belly, a fully blown kitchen/living room renovation on the go, all of my wonderful gardens, plus two of my favourite house guests visiting, it's a little busy (to say the least).

More on each of these topics... but first, a state of the union before we started our newest (and largest project) since the basement renovation.

D finished tiling the upstairs bathroom, much to this pregnant lady's delight - as now the bathtub was back in order, and the slate is looking amazing.

The living room has been our "go-to" room for any room that needed to move into another room for quite sometime. With the addition of insulation, it has been the same for a while, and we slowly chipped away progress on it.

Starting to drywall (May 2013)

Here is a couple of reincarnations of our living room thus far:

Living Room (2010):

Bedroom (2011):

Disaster/Deconstruction (2012):

Kitchen (2013):

As much as the living room has changed, the kitchen has pretty much stayed the same except for small organizational changes in the drawers and cupboards.

2010:

Before we started (2013):

The new kitchen design capitalizes on the L shape of our kitchen, and I am excited for the many pantries as well as the increased functionality of the work triangle and more counter space.

We are on a short project deadline with expecting baby #2 on July 4. Some families wouldn't embark on such a large project with that deadline looming itself,  but all of the pieces we needed to get this piece of the project moving quickly fell into place perfectly, so we couldn't resist trying to make it happen.

The cabinetry we ordered is suppose to be delivered on the week of June 24, so fingers crossed it's on time or early as we're not sure what will make it first to Edmonton - baby or cabinets.

Tap Puzzlement

We finally got our tap set from Moen that we ordered off HomeDepot.ca. It took 14 business days to get to us, and the only tracking number we recieved from when it got shipped from the warehouse to the Home Depot warehouse. In our opinion, way too slow. Likely we will not use this site in future.

Anyway, here is what we chose: Moen Brantford Oil Rubbed Bronze. What we failed to notice on the HD site was this was a trim kit and required the Moen 9000 lav rough-in. Enter cursing here after we open the box and try to install only to figure out we are missing some key pieces. Namely, the valves to put it in.

After calling Moen (as per the direction not to return but to call them), we got a customer service rep that didn't know if she could send us parts or not. Spending 12 minutes and on hold 3x to figure that simple question out, we hung up. Our time is valuable.... so we tweeted them instead. Surprisingly, they did get back to us, which is more than we can say for other companies we've tweeted, and a Canadian rep did call us back, and she was very helpful, and offered to send us bathroom accessories for the inconvenience. That was more like the customer experience we were hoping for!

However, in the meantime, we hoofed it over to our local plumbing supply store, and they were able to score the valves for us within a day (very impressive from our neck of the woods). After a little McGuivering, we made it work (as usual).

We have been enjoying using them ever since!

What we learnt:
(1) Pay attention if you're buying a trim kit or a whole set
(2) Make sure you know what the "hole opening" is in your top (we originally bought a standard, but we actually needed a 8" spread for ours).
(3) Double check you have all the pieces, if not, reach out to your manufacturer.

What are you installing this week?

How To: Install a Door Jamb & Hang a Door

A way to save yourself a few bucks is not to buy a pre-assembled door jamb, usually these kits cost anywhere from $60-90, whereas the materials in our project cost $47. We have also been able to save cost on some of our doors by buying ones from our local Architectural Clearinghouse which offers reused and salvaged materials. We have been able to pick some some standard 6-panel doors at the store for $18-22 depending on size.

Things Needed:

Tape Measure

Pencil

3 pieces of pre-primed MDF door jamb

16-20 ft of pre-primed MDF door casing, in the style of your choosing (amt. needed depends on sz of door)

Door 

Hinges

Chop saw

Nails, hammer or a pnumatic nail gun

DAP, rapid drywall mud or DAP DryDex

Box Cutter, Chisel

Screwdriver or drill

Primer, brush, tray

Most doors are a standard 80“, which means the rough opening of your door will be a couple inches larger than this. You need enough linear feet to do 2 sides and a top. Most building stores stock in a 7 ft (84 inches) length, which means for your project, you will need 3 pieces.

Of course, the old carpenter`s adage to measure twice and cut once does apply, so make sure you measure your door before you pick up your materials (just in case).

Jamb refers to the trim which is inside your door frame, casing refers to the trim outside of your casing (aka the pretty pieces). As an additional finish, the head pieces of casing in our house are a different style. This is a personal preference.

In our house, we have used the following styles:
Casing: Moulding & Millwork, Casing MFPU8039
Head Casing:  Moulding & Millwork, Architrave 5010

Jamb is fairly standard, here`s an example if you need one.

Head out to your favourite local home improvement store. The pieces you are looking for will be in Millwork section, and comes in a variety of styles, as well as primed or painted.  We prefer to use primed MDF and then paint with our own primer. If you`re trying to match up existing trim, most existing trim will be a Colonial style but it may be helpful to have a photograph.

In order to find cut the head jamb, you need to know the width of your door. We will add a 1/4 inch total to the measurement of your door to give enough play for the door to swing open and closed on hinges (as every door should!). The easiest way to do this is to just cut the pieces square at the width of your door plus 1/4 of an inch. 

However, we like to notch our door frames. This is a little more advanced, but we feel it gives us a door frame that will withstand the test of time. 

To do this, you square the end of your jamb, cut a notch the same thickness of your jamb (5/8“: standard), to find the second notch, measure the distance from the first notch the width of your door plus 1/4“ (so if your door is 24“, then measure from the notch 24 1/4“ and this is where your second notch should start - 5/8“ thick).

In order to cut a notch, you need a piece of material 3“ to place between the saw fence and your jamb to hold the piece away from the fence, so you can set up your depth of the saw to cut 1/4“. Basically this jamb is placed on the fence to allow you to get to depth at the back of your piece. 

The side jambs length can be calculated by adding the height of the door (standard 80“) plus 1/4“, plus gap spacing of 7/8“ for spacing at bottom & top of door.

Cut your side jambs to length calculated.

Take a minute and have a thought on which way your door will be swinging into your room, as this affects where you will put your hinges. Typically bedrooms and bathrooms will swing inwards towards a wall.

Measure 8`` plus depth of notch (1/4“) from the top of your jamb. Mark with pencil. This is where your first hinge will go. Attach your hinge using 2 screws and your screwdriver or drill.

Repeat the process for the bottom hinge, measure from the top of the first hinge 59“ down and attach this hinge.  

Score around your hinge using a box cutter or a router if you have one (we obviously don`t). Remove hinge, rinse and repeat for the second hinge. Pay careful attention that you are just cutting in to the depth of the hinge but no further.

You should be left with hinge imprints that look a little something like this:

Chisel within the depth of the hinge (within your marks), so this will inset your hinge slightly, this is usually about 1/8“ or slightly less. Put hinges back into the now chiseled areas on your jamb. 

Repeat this process on your doors, using a 7 7/8“ from the top of the door for the top hinge and 59“ from the top hinge for the bottom hinge.

Using your hammer and nails (sucker) or nail gun, tack the head jamb into your side jambs. 

Place your completed door jamb within your rough opening. If it doesn`t fit, revisit your measurements as you may have taken a wrong turn somewhere along the line.

Measure from the floor to the notch for the length of the side casing. Cut boards to size.

Use 1“ nails to attach the casing to the jambs using a hammer & nails (sucker) or a nail gun NOT to the wall  (yet).

Hang the door within the door jamb by attaching the hinges into the area you just chiseled out on your door. Add a piece of tape (we used painter`s tape) to be able to able to open & shut it (door knob tutorial coming up next).

Adjust the jambs and casing, by sliding them or pushing them until you have an even gap all the way around, and the door will open and shut freely.

Tack your casings into the wall using a hammer & nails (sucker) or a nail gun.

Measure from the outside of the casing to the outside of the casing to get your distance (and measurement) for the head casing. 

Set saw to 45 degree angle and cut one end in a back cut, use measurement then to measure to make your second cut. Line up back of your cut to the outside of your casing and tack it in place.

If you want a pretty end piece to really finish your work, you can take the scrap pieces from the two cuts you just made, put your saw back up to straight 90 degree angle and cut on the intersection on the back side of your previous cut. This will form a little triangle thin piece which will be perfect. Try it on a couple pieces of scrap wood if you are having an issue with wrapping your mind around it.

For a finishing look, we use DAP caulking to fill in the joints and the nail holes with DAP DryDex (rapid drying drywall mud). Put a little on your finger, push it into the hole, rub off the excess. Let this dry over night.

Touch up the nail holes the next time for a little primer and you`re done!

Have you hung a door or installed casing lately? What room are you currently working in?

Freezer Jenga & Bathroom Floor Reveal

It's time again for our favourite game - Freezer Jenga.

We inevitably buy a buttload bunch of meat everytime we go to Costco. We love the quality of the meat and the price per kilogram is pretty sweet too.

A couple trips ago, we did math in store and realized the striploin steaks that we keep buying would actually be cheaper if we did the cutting of the striploin ourselves. So since then, we have sharpened up our chef knives and got chopping.

For a striploin that is about $80-90 we find we tend to get about 18-20 decently sized steaks. With the cost per kg, this works out to about $4/steak. A far cry from the $6 we were paying to have the butcher chop them.

So D got slicing and I got to take everything out of the freezer. Here's the before shot. (I actually had done the door a couple days ago when I had some time).

One of our main impediments in our tiny freezer is the turkey that didn't get eaten on Steaksgiving (or Thanksgiving). I had a freezer-side peanut gallery too.

 

One of the tips I found recently was to take the ground beef and flatten it in the freezer bag so it's thin and you can get more in. This helped a lot! Plus it makes the meat defrost quickly in the sink, which I love.

Here's the finished product after an hour or so of work by both of us to bag, label and sort. This is enough meat to last us several months.

In case you're wondering what's in there:

• One big turkey
• 6 medium freezer bags of ground beef
• 1 bag of homemade wontons
• 2 bags of Kraft shredded cheese
• 2 blocks of mozzarella cheese
• 14 drinkable yogurts
• A large ziplock baggie full of frozen breastmilk
• 11 frozen waffles
• 1 medium bag of frozen peas from our garden
• 1 large bag of frozen beans from our garden
• 6 lbs of butter
• 4 spiced packages of haddock
• 1 slab of peameal bacon
• 1 lb of strip bacon
• 2 leftover frozen casserole dinners
• 3 packages of burgers
• 4 boxes of frozen tart shells
• 2 large freezer bags full of pork ribs
• 8 medium bags of chicken breast
• 2 medium bags of chicken cutlets
• 2 medium bags of turkey breast
• 5 medium bags of pork souvlaki
• 2 salmon steaks
• 8 large bags of striploin steaks
• 1 first-aid cold package

I find our stacking impressive. But not as impressive as the grout in the bathroom.

It was a huge sigh of relief that the grout went very easily with these tiles after the disaster we had in our other bathroom. We used a higher quality tile sealer, and the expense of this, we feel has been well-worth it. The product we used this time is DuPont StoneTech Professional Enhancer Pro Sealer. 

We are all looking forward to having a toilet on the main level again, we have not had one upstairs since Jo was born!

 

Yay progress!

The Weather Outside is Frightful, but the Tile is So Delightful.

I must have missed a memo on the fact that fall is over...

Yep! We've got the white stuff. I'm glad it waited until after Halloween this year. We can't really complain, it is November after all. I have been prepared for a while, since I've had my snow tires on since October. Of course, it also means that skiing season is upon us, and low and behold, I'm not pregnant, so I might get a chance to ski this season.

So because it's snowing, clearly it's the day we should get out the tile saw and work on the bathroom floor, since it is so warm and lovely out.... Errrr...... Might have a problem with our logic on that one, but it was definitely the first time our favourite contractor dad had a chance between working his many jobs.

Laying tiles in some ways seems a little like Jenga - especially after we bought a curved deep soaker tub (thanks Mom and Dad for that Christmas present from last year!). We also have been storing a second round of slate purchased at our favourite flooring store in the garage for some time. The colour in this batch seems to have a different colour gradient than what we installed in our downstairs bathroom, we are liking it!

The floor was set-up in thin-set yesterday and now is all ready for grout. Looking forward to seeing our cabinet, having a usable bathtub and main floor toilet again soon!

Colour Our World...Beige Edition

A lovely paint job by my lovely DH - we chose to paint our bedroom a lovely "Sandpiper Beige" and the bathroom "Inukshuk".

I commented that we keep picking beige, not a bad thing - just our colour palette tends to be to use a neutral colour on the walls and then use the accessories to add that "pop". In the case of our bedroom, we have 2 comforters and a quilt we typically use - and all of them have varying colour palettes (blue/brown, brown/green, brown/orange).

The current debate involves whether or not to put a ceiling fan into the master bedroom. We wired the light this way to allow this possibility, and as we don't have air conditioning in the house, a ceiling fan could be a really great addition in keeping us cool in the summertime.

As we are heading towards winter here in Alberta, it's not essential that we put this in right away. It could be a "boob" light for the time being (insert D shaking his head rapidly here insisting that we "do it right" a la Mr. Holmes)

We're looking for:
(1) 52" to be able to move the air effectively
(2) With light(s)
(3) Brushed nickel finish ideally (to match door knobs and current lamps).

We checked out the offerings at our local Canadian Tire and Home Hardware, and were underwhelmed, so to the Interweb...

Costco - Canarm St. James $84.99

So far we're leaning towards this one. I suggested DIYing the brass one we currently have in the kitchen (it is the right size).... It's not totally out there - I refer you to this post. In case you forgot, here's what it looks like:

Pretty sure with a couple coats of Rustoleum paint and a few new shades it would be just nifty. This may be my project of the week. And hey, if I ruin it, it's ugly, and who cares?

We checked in with the local flooring place we like to use too (Friends of ours, their parents own it), and we just need to submit the measurements of the master bedroom and they can come within a week or two and lay the carpet. It's going to be the same as Jonas' room, a nice neutral with a slight pattern in it (can't really see this in the photos). 

Glad we have a central vac installed as a certain doggie seems to love carpet, and he's black... the carpet...well, it's not very forgiving to his fur tuffs.

With a little more hard work, we may have a bath tub, a bedroom with a door and bathroom upstairs again soon :)